Although the gold nine is not good enough, this time, we have witnessed a new milestone for our own brands.
data from the Passenger Car Association showed that in September, the retail sales of passenger car market reached 1.922 million units, a year-on-year increase of 21.5% and a month-on-month increase of 2.8%. It seems that the increase in is hilarious, but in fact, it is because the market base is relatively low due to the chip shortage in the same period last year, while the single-digit growth rate of 2.8% month-on-month is at a historical low in the same period in the past 20 years.
Against the backdrop of Jinjiu's relatively sluggish, the market share of independent brands has ushered in a qualitative increase - for the first time in September, exceeding the joint venture and imported brands, reaching 50.4%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points from the same period last year. Although
is only a wholesale share, this is undoubtedly a new height in history for independent brands. It is an epoch-making bell for the Chinese automobile market, which has been dominated by joint venture car companies for a long time. It is a landmark bell, a blessing for independent car companies and a wake-up call for joint venture car companies.
Some people go to high-rise buildings, and it is inevitable that some people will fall into the ditch. Compared with the gratifying rise of independent car companies that outperform the market, the mainstream joint venture camp has slipped into a trough.
htmlIn September, mainstream joint venture brands sold 740,000 vehicles, an increase of 8% year-on-year and a decrease of 4% month-on-month, significantly underperforming the market. It can be said that the shortcomings of Jinjiu are mainly due to the joint venture brand being dragged down.
Specifically, the top ten manufacturers in September were BYD , FAW-Volkswagen , SAIC Volkswagen , Geely Auto , Changan Auto , SAIC GM , GAC Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan, Tesla China, and Chery Automobile.
It can be seen that independent car companies occupy three seats among the top five on the list. Moreover, in the top ten list, SAIC Volkswagen and Dongfeng Nissan both declined, while Honda's two joint venture car companies fell out of the top ten on the list, and Dongfeng Honda fell out of the top fifteen. As the main force of the joint venture camp, many Japanese automakers collectively weakened, which is an important reason for the weakness of the joint venture camp.
Overall, independent brands and joint venture brands performed equally in September, but this "even-severe" can be said to be a landmark warning for joint venture car companies that once held the market voice.
Looking the timeline longer, from January to August this year, the market share of countries including Germany, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries showed a significant decline compared with 2021, with the Japanese falling by 1.5%, the American falling by 1.2%, and the Korean team, which has a poor 2.7% share, also further declined to 1.7%.
Among them, some weak car companies have already entered the brink of delisting, such as Changan Mazda , Kia , , which sells more than 4,000 vehicles per month, Citroen , which sells more than 3,000 vehicles per month, Skoda , and GAC Mitsubishi. The increase and decrease between independent brands and joint venture brands is largely due to the current rising new energy vehicle market and penetration rate .
Data from the China Passenger Car Association showed that in September, the wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars reached 675,000, a year-on-year increase of 94.9% and a month-on-month increase of 6.2%. After the introduction of the policy of halving the car purchase tax, new energy vehicles were not only not affected, but continued to improve month-on-month, exceeding expectations.
At the same time, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in September had reached 31.8%, an increase of 11 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles among independent brands is 55.2%; luxury cars is 29.7%; while mainstream joint venture brands are at the bottom, only 4.2%, which is significantly lower than the first two.
In addition to plug-in hybrid and pure electric models that can be used in green brands, in the past year, independent car companies have successively deployed the hybrid energy-saving car market, which is also an important reason for the erosion of joint venture brands that occupy the main fuel force.
It is worth mentioning that in 2022, the frequency of new energy vehicle companies releasing new cars has also shown a significant increase. This means that the penetration rate of domestic brand new energy vehicles will further increase in the future.
On the contrary, in the face of the rapid replacement of fuel vehicles, although a number of joint venture car companies have taken action, they are still slow. Currently, there are only 59 new energy vehicles on sale in the terminal of joint venture brands, of which only 17 have sold more than 5,000 vehicles in one year, while there are as many as 144 new energy vehicles on sale in independent brands, and 81 have sold more than 5,000 vehicles in one year.
The weakness of the joint venture brand is in addition to the factors of sluggish sales of new energy, the decline in brand premium is also a key factor.
The "Study Report on China Automobile Retention Rate in September 2022" released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in the joint venture camp, in addition to the relatively strong retention rate of Toyota and the rising retention rate of some niche brands, the overall premium of joint venture brands is continuing to decline, and second-hand car dealers are also unable to reverse it.
The new car channel is an important reason. Due to the pressure of luxury brands and the upward attack of independent brands, dealers have to offer more discounts in order to facilitate transactions, thus gradually reducing the price awareness of joint venture brands. In addition, the phenomenon of lowering the guide price or increasing configuration of joint venture new cars has also become more and more common.
On the one hand, the premium that it is proud of is gradually decreasing, and on the other hand, the core technology and product strength of independent car companies are rapidly improving. In the future, joint venture car companies that have lost their inherent advantages will undoubtedly become increasingly weak. The weak growth of
is not the most terrifying thing. What's more serious is that with the intensification of Matthew effect , those weak joint venture car companies that were already on the edge of the market will inevitably be accelerated to squeeze out of the Chinese market. From Dongfeng Renault to GAC Acura, FAW Mazda, and then to GAC Fick , who will be the next one?
It is time for a joint venture car company to sound the alarm.
